IMPROVE CREDIT SCORE

Many2016 first-time home buyers will need to know what their FICO scores are before starting the house hunting process.

There is nothing that can throw a monkey wrench into your escrow and your mortgage process as learning that your credit score wasn't as high as you originally thought it to be. The higher your credit score, the better your chances are of financing a home at a great interest rate. A credit score of at least 640 is a good place to start if you are a first time home buyer; 720 should qualify in most cases.

Credit score repair begins with your credit report. You can request a free copy of your credit report annually from the Federal Trade Commission at AnnualCreditReport.com. Check the report for errors, duplicates. Mark or highlight them.

The simplest thing to do if you’ve missed a payment is to call the creditor and ask them to erase the negative listing. You can also do this with a well-documented letter containing the right language created by your lender. In many cases, the lender can tell you which items on your credit report should be targeted that will boost the score the quickest.

One quick fix used by first-time home buyers to boost their credit score is to have an older family member with a sound credit rating add them as an authorized user on a credit card. This can help increase a credit score and the original user wouldn't have to give up possession of their card. With more loans requiring higher credit scores today, it’s never too early to start fixing credit challenges.

If you are one of the many who have defaulted on a student loan you can enter into a “rehab program,” which will get your account back on track after 12 months. This may not be the quick fix you need when buying a home but the sooner you do this the better. For disputing a negative mark that was not your fault, you can try disputing the account with the credit bureaus as “not mine.”

In most cases when serious homebuyers apply for a home loan, the lender will run your credit for you.